Buy Plex Server "What DELL would be best?" POWERFULL Transcoding!

Plex Media Server
1

Hey, i tried to find out what to buy for Plex Server, but im not confident in my skill on this matter, ive read also on the forums and this and that, so i question what to buy, and asking for some advice here :slight_smile:

What DELL computer should i buy for my Plex Server, it must transcode, also 4K, so it needs to be really powerful

And yes i did read the 4K transcoding post on the rules, 1,2,3,4,5 = don’t transcode, but i need to, and want todo it, and im ready to pay for the hardweare :o)

Any recommendation on what to buy?
Thanks

2

at minimum, you need a 7th gen intel gpu with a 600 series integrated gpu.

ie 7500 + 630.

as long as the intel cpu has the integrated gpu, no nvidia card required.

if you require amd cpu, then you will want an nvidia gpu with it.

choose according to your budget.

if you want something specific, buy this @ FreeBSD Enterprise 1 PB Storage

3

Hey thanks for the reply…

I already am running a:
Intel Core i5 8600K @ 3.60GHz
Intel UHD Graphics 630 (Gigabyte)
8,00GB Dual-Channel @ 1199MHz Ram

setup, it does not handle things good enough, 100% cpu usage when transcoding 1 stream!
So that why i want to upgrade, and upgrade BIG so i dont have to again in 1 year…
The server its on now was never a plex server just file server, now i got plex, i need to upgrade my setup…

So im asking for the BIG POWER SETUP, budget does not matter i can print more money any time :o)

So tell me what Dell would you select ?

4

Your setup should be plenty sufficient, so you must be doing something wrong, or don’t have it configured correctly.

I am going to assume that you are using windows, if so you may need to disable tone mapping and see if that helps.

https://support.plex.tv/articles/hdr-to-sdr-tone-mapping/

See also [INFO] Plex, 4k, transcoding, and you - aka the rules of 4k

5

I agree with @TeknoJunky that you shouldn’t be having that issue. I would check to make sure you have hardware transcoding and tone mapping enabled on your server. Also I would make sure that you don’t have something else eating up resources in your system. After you have done all that if you determine that you absolutely need to upgrade then I would suggest contacting someone like Puget Systems to see what they would suggest. They have legendary customer support and will take the time to make sure you get the perfect system. I would also possibly consider going to a full blown rack mount set up.

6

I can do many simultaneous transcodes on an i3-7100… Your CPU isn’t the problem. Your hardware is fine for Plex. It sounds like hardware accelerated transcoding isn’t set up properly. And as @TeknoJunky said, tone mapping cannot be hardware accelerated on a Windows server.

7

@BrownGhost

Run some quick tests to make sure your system is correctly handling hardware accelerated transcoding.

Make sure your server is set for debug level logs. See Reporting issues with Plex Media Server.

Make sure you have hardware acceleration enabled on your system (Settings → Transocoder).
Screenshot (909)

Test 1: Play a 1080p HD SDR movie, such as a Blu-ray rip, with subtitles disabled, and force a video transcode (change the playback bandwidth/quality).

  • Check Plex Dashboard → Now Playing. Is h/w acceleration used for the transcode? See example below.
  • What is the CPU utilization? If using the GPU for transcoding, it should be low.

If enabled, disable HDR Tonemapping in Settings → Transcoder.
Screenshot (910)

Test 2: Repeat above tests with a 4K HDR movie. The colors will be off, but that is not important.

  • H/W acceleration in use?
  • CPU utilization?

Enable HDR Transcoding in Settings → Transcoder

Test 3: Repeat the 4K HDR test

  • H/W acceleration in use?
  • CPU Utilization?

If hardware acceleration is not used for Test 1 or 2, then something is definitely off. The Intel graphics should handle the transcoding, and CPU utilization should be low. Pull the log files, Settings → Troubleshooting, and attach the zip file to the thread.

There will be a CPU hit when tonemapping HDR to SDR. As noted in the support article @TeknoJunky linked, Plex does not fully support using the Intel GPU for HDR to SDR tonemapping when running Windows. If this pushes your CPU near 100%, then you may experience buffering.


Example: Plex Dashboard showing hardware accelerated video transcoding. Note it is used for both the decode and encode.
Screenshot (908)

3 Likes
8

CPU Usage, is Plex Transcoder.exe

Test 1: 1080p - HDR Tone mapping: ON

CPU: starting at 100% for 15 seconds, then up and down to 15-30 %

GPU: NOT IN USE

H/W acceleration: Disabled

Transcode to: 720 2 Mbps

Test 1.2: 1080p - HDR Tone mapping: OFF

CPU: starting at 100% for 25 seconds, then up and down to 15-30 %

GPU: NOT IN USE

H/W acceleration: Disabled.

Transcode to: 720 2 Mbps

Test 1.3: 1080p - HDR Tone mapping: OFF

CPU: 20%

GPU: 68%

(after a few minutes of playing CPU and GPU go down to 1% and shortly up every 10 to 15 seconds to 20/68)

H/W acceleration: Enabled.

Transcode to: 720 2 Mbps

Test 1.4: 1080p - HDR Tone mapping: ON

Same results as test 1.3

Test 2: 4K HDR - HDR Tone mapping: OFF

CPU: 20% all the time

GPU: 68%

H/W acceleration: Enabled

Transcode to: 1080 8 Mbps

Test 2.2: 4K HDR - HDR Tone mapping: ON

Same results as test 2

Thanks, this was a great exercise to do, gave me some useful info, and also seems things started working much better once I had setting turned of and back o1 time…

Now its using HW, and its much better :o)

To me it looks like CPU and RAM is more then enough, but if I want more performance I must have more GPU power…???

My motherboard is: Gigabyte Z370 HD3P-CF (U3E1)
with integrated: Intel UHD Graphics 630 (Gigabyte)

Could I buy a bigger better GPU and add that to this board? And disable the Intel 630, so the new GPU will be used, or even use both at the same time ??

Again, thanks a bunch, this is really helping me out :blush:

(Also thanks to the others that made replies)

9

Ok so you have seem to proved the point, as expected, that being on windows and enabling tone mapping (which is currently done on CPU), is too much.

you have 2 or 3 options;

  • keep tone mapping off until such time that plex supports tone mapping on gpu on windows, and/or stop using HDR content when you know you will need to transcode
  • switch to linux, where tone mapping is supported by the gpu
  • maybe buy a new 12th gen intel cpu (unknown if this will actually powerful enough help)
2 Likes
10

@BrownGhost I suggest switching to Linux. Tone mapping hardware acceleration is well supported and your existing parts will make a nice server. On Windows, even with the newest fastest CPU, tone mapping may not be fast enough.

If you have never used Linux before, it IS a lot to learn, I’m not going to lie. But you can get all the help you need here. If you like tinkering with computers in general, I think you will find learning Linux kind of fun, too.

11

Hi thanks for the replies… :slight_smile:

I am purely a windows man :slight_smile: and my server serves other needed to. must stay windows…

Maybe my writing was a bit confusing, but all in all, i got it to work with
H/W acceleration: Enabled
both 1080p and 4K
+
Tone mapping: ON
CPU would use 20%
and GPU would use 68%

I think it will be best if a buy a new computer… better GPU and better CPU and more RAM
To make it the best it can be, and a Windows :slight_smile:

Again, any recommendation for What Dell it should. be?

12

if you got it working, then you don’t need a new computer.

if it is not working, then turn off tone mapping.

otherwise, just buy the best dell you can find on their web site, since you said you can just print money, I’m not sure why you wouldn’t buy the biggest most awesomest thing they sell.

or buy whatever fits your budget that is newer/faster than what you got.

13

Probably going to spend more on the GPU than anything else if you want to out do the Intel iGPU.

https://www.elpamsoft.com/?p=Plex-Hardware-Transcoding

14

Humm looked at the Dell’s not relay have something out the box i think is best…
i guss i must build it my self, again :confused:

So question, this INTEL 12 gen cpu, has build in GPU, is this good?
or better to build a 11 gen, and use external GPU like
Quadro RTX 5000 (16GB)
or
Titan RTX (16GB)

??

As i was trying to put a machine together like this
Motherboard:
GIGABYTE Z690 UD 1.0, Mainboard- (Intel Socket 1700)

CPU:
Core i9-12900 3,6 (Intel Socket 1700)

GPU:
Quadro RTX 5000 (16GB)
or
Titan RTX (16GB)

RAM:
32 Giga DDR5 as fast as I can get

But then found out that 12 gen inlet CPU has internal GPU i m getting confused, what is the best setup…

Any advice?

15

Keep your current system. Don’t transcode 4K HDR. Spend your money on a decent Synology or Qnap NAS to hold your media.

16

I would really strongly suggest that if you are absolutely set on a new system and budget is no issue then contact Puget Systems and have them help you out. They are probably the best option out there from prebuilt custom tailored work station and server grade machines. I have a acquaintance on these forums who just purchased a system from them and was blown away by their customer service and quality.

21

Thanks, but again… i want to build my self a machine that can handle the trans code.

22

thanks but, no, im from Germany, that’s the other side of the pond bro, im not ordering from [Puget Systems] that’s USA, expensive shipping and big issues when ever there is a problem.

I do dell or i build my self, just looking for some advice on what parts to build it from…

23

If I had know that I wouldn’t have suggested bro. If your looking to build a proper server with serious transcoding power then I would probably look at the Threadripper platform. It would give you an insanely powerful platform to grow off of. For a graphics card I would look at something in the Quadro line up from Nvidia. I would probably look at RTX A2000 and up.

24

Thanks for your reply…

I have looking in to the AMD Treadripper, and I like it, sounds right :blush:

Graphics card, I am confused though, this A 2000.

You say A2000 or above, the below cards are they all above, they are how ever not “A” anything

GEFORCE RTX 2080

GEFORCE RTX 2070

GEFORCE RTX 2060

and

GeForce RTX 3090

GeForce RTX 3080

GeForce RTX 3070

GeForce RTX 3060

Can you elaborate, so I make the right choices when I buy :o)